Since I don't know a lot of people in my new town, I have to come up with ways of doing things with only 2 hands. One of the biggest challenges (I think) of chopping a top on a street rod is figuring out what to do with the top that's getting chopped off. Think about it - by the time you're about to cut the last pillar loose, the top is going to be flopping around all over the place. I've read a couple books on how to chop tops, but I didn't see any way to hold to top steady while it's cut loose, other than, "Get someone to help hold the top." That probably won't work for me. I don't know if this is a brand new idea or not, but this is what I came up with. The One Man Top Lifter. It's a support structure to hold up the top when it's cut off. You can raise it up to the ceiling to get it out of your way while you cut down the body of the car, and then lower the roof back into position when you're ready to weld.

I picked up 4 2"x2" wood sticks and some hardware from Lowe's. One 2x2 will go up in the rafters, directly above the front doors. One more 2x2 will go in the rafters directly above the rear side windows.

Next, I measured and cut another 2x2 just long enough to go inside the car, from above the left rear window, to the right rear window. The piece left from that cut was used inside the car, from the front side of the driver's window, to the passenger's window.

Once your wood is cut to length, carefully position the pieces so the one in the ceiling will go across several rafters, and the one inside the car will be centered left to right, just under the roof skin. Use a cordless drill to make a hole for the support rods. This way, the rod should line up perfectly straight from the ceiling down to the car.

Once all 4 holes are drilled, it's time for the hardware. On the left are some threaded tee nuts. Position these in the holes in the 2x2 that goes in the ceiling, and hammer them down to lock them in place. The coupling nuts will thread onto the end of the threaded rod once everything is in position.

Toss the long 2x2s up in the ceiling across the rafters. You can see it at the very top of this picture. Now take the 3/8" threaded rod and screw it into the tee nuts, so the rods hang straight down from the ceiling.

Slide the bottom end of the threaded rod into the hole in the short 2x2, and secure the wood in place with the coupling nut. Turn the ROD so that it raises the wood up so it's just barely touching the inner lip of the roof skin. Your rod will be drilled up into the attic space to lift the top off the car.

Since the coupling nut is longer than a regular nut, you can leave 1/4 inch of the coupling nut sticking down from the rod. Take a dremel tool and cut a slot in the end of the rod. Then when you are ready to raise the top of the car, use a cordless drill with a straight slot screwdriver bit. The sides of the coupling nut that's sticking down will help keep the drill bit from slipping off.

Here's the finished setup. When you're ready to chop the top off, make sure the rod is threaded up so that the wood can support the weight of the roof. This way, the roof won't bend or flex, which could bind up your saw or damage something. When the top is cut loose, use your cordless drill to screw the rods up into the attic, one at a time, about 8 inches at a time on each rod. Next, cut down your door posts and body panels, and unscrew the rods so the roof comes back down. This way you can fine tune the exact placement of the roof over the body so you can easily weld it back on.